A Question of Color

The Subconscious World of "Color Consciousness"

The first documentary to confront a painful and long taboo subject: the disturbing feelings many African Americans harbor about themselves and their appearance. African American filmmaker Kathe Sandler digs into the often subconscious world of "color consciousness," a caste system based on how closely skin color, hair texture and facial features conform to a European ideal.

A QUESTION OF COLOR traces "colorism" back to the sexual subjugation of black women by slave owners and the preferential treatment their mixed-race children received. The film is especially sensitive to the burdens borne by black women who often feel devalued by white standards of beauty. Disturbing scenes with teen-age rappers, a Harlem plastic surgeon, a television news anchor and a writer indicate the color problem is still very much with us, affecting employment, friendship and marriage.

This unusually sensitive film can help viewers examine the complex interplay between racial identity, culture and self-image in society and within themselves.

"Its sensible, positive messages about self-acceptance in the face-off racism resonate strongly." - The New York Times

"A free-flowing conversation within the extended family that is black America. Sandler's tone, by itself, can begin healing the wounds it uncovers." - New York Newsday

Comments (1)

Anonymous

San Jose State University•3 years ago

An honest look at colorism. This film is terrific and is still very much relevant in 2015; though it would be great to have a sequel to see how much, or if attitudes have changed over the past two decades.

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